Europe midday: Stoxx 600 on track for further losses

European stocks were mostly lower at the halfway point of trading on Tuesday, extending losses recorded in the previous session.

As of 1200 BST, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was down 0.21% at 498.05, while the DAX lost 0.21% to 17,688.49, the CAC 40 was 0.26% lower at 7,232.11 and the IBEX 35 advanced 0.18% to 10,664.90.

On the macro front, annual inflation hit 2.8% in Spain last month, according to the National Statistics Institute, in line with preliminary estimates. On a monthly basis, however, inflation declined 0.5%.

Elsewhere, German business sentiment deteriorated sharply in August, according to a survey released on Tuesday. The ZEW indicator of economic sentiment fell 22.6 points from July to 19.2. This marked the worst decline since July 2022. The indicator for the assessment of the current economic situation in Germany also declined, by 8.4 points to -77.3 in August.

However, the main focus this week will be on eurozone GDP and employment numbers, which will be due out on Wednesday.

Sportswear company Asics was slated to report earnings on Tuesday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com